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Unwritten Law
Defying category and record labels, Unwritten Law is better than ever
Saturday, Oct. 28th
You’ve rocked out to the harmonic fireworks of “Seein’ Red,” air-scratched the turntable squeaks of “Cailin,” and karaoked the staccato self-deprecation of “Save Me,” but you probably didn’t know that Unwritten Law were the chameleons behind all three. It’s not your fault. Over the last 14 years, labels have fought the Law, and the labels won (“We’ve been dropped from every record label we’ve ever been on,” guitarist Steve Morris muses. “It’s kinda cool”), despite five Top 20 singles—three of which hit Top 10—and one #1. It’s practically impossible to confine Unwritten Law to a tidy little box, but the guys are giving it their best shot anyway. Their first best-of compilation, Hit List (a logical title that barely beat out silver medalist Still Poor) is hardly a cash-in cobbling of stuff you already own; the band hunkered down in a Los Angeles studio to re-record 14 fan favorites and two brand new tracks.
“It’s cool to be able to go back and do these songs and make them sound like they’re the same band,” says Morris. “If you listen to all the records, they all sound different because we were young and inexperienced. Back then, when we were kids, we didn’t know what the hell we were doing. Now we’re seasoned veterans.”
The process of selecting Hit List’s hit list was simple: whatever fans requested the most vociferously at shows made the cut. Hence, the comp is a love letter of UL’s favorite dysfunctional valentines, starting with three tracks from feral early efforts Blue Room and Oz Factor, including the inexplicably beloved “Superman.”
The fine-tuning makes perfect sense, both chronologically and aesthetically. The remainder of List is comprised of tracks from 1998’s Unwritten Law (a.k.a. the “black record”), 2002’s Elva, and 2005’s Here’s to the Mourning, albums which documented UL’s evolution from primitive skatepunk to the unpredictable, uncategorizable entity they are today: refined, melodic, and deeply empathetic.
“If you’re making music to follow a trend, that’s where you’re gonna end—when that trend dies,” notes frontman Scott Russo. “None of us have gotten rich off this shit. I’m between houses—I live at my mom’s house and my girlfriend’s house. We’ve never tried to do anything to have longevity; we just write music that makes us happy. Thankfully, hardcore fans have come along with us.”
It’s taken just the right confederacy to refine Unwritten Law’s signature sound: Bassist Pat “PK” Kim defected from Sprung Monkey in 1998 and is closing off nearly a decade with the band. Palermo spent years pummeling with longtime pals in Ten Foot Pole and Pulley before hooking up with UL full-time in 2004. Both he and Kim are understandably psyched to put their stamp on the older material, but even more exciting are the two new cuts—bridges to the forthcoming new LP—that round out the collection.
To some, the band is coy about what to expect from the new stuff, but Kim
breaks it down sensibly enough: “You know it’s gonna have a great
melody to it, it’s gonna have some good heavy guitars, and a good hook.
And all the feeling you can throw in,” he promises, chuckling, “We’re
like a buffet.”
Most importantly, each infectious strum and smash is a product of instinct,
not pandering. Simply put, Unwritten Law have learned to write in cursive,
and they play by their own rules.
“I can pretty much speak for all of us when I say we don’t really get out much,” Russo laughs. “So when we’re making music, it’s coming from a pure place and not coming from a place where we’re trying to be a part of something.”
“I think it’s the most punk rock thing you can do,” Morris seconds, “to not stay in one formula or conform to what somebody else might think your band should sound like. That’s what being “Punk” was all about in the first place.”
Unwritten Law will be bringing their formula of punk to the Reunion Arena in Dallas for the LG Action Sports World Championships in the afternoon of October 28th.
